Danielle Cole Wins Co-op of the Year Award

June 25, 2015

On May 5, the Cooperative Education Awards recognized outstanding students, employer partners, faculty and staff for their exceptional effort in fulfilling the goals and ideals of cooperative education.

Danielle Cole, a health sciences student in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, was one of nine winners of the Co-Op Student of the Year award, recognized for her outstanding performance and contributions during her time at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

During her co-op, Cole’s responsibilities as a research assistant involved working on many of the Center’s ongoing studies. Her main focus was CHOP’s K23 research study which examined how parents and children interact while in the hospital and how that correlated to post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms to improve mental care given to children who are hospitalized for injuries.

Cole also assisted in the distribution of the Cellie Coping Kit, which provides tips for dealing with illness and treatment based on current research, consultation with experts and advice from patients and families. She helped assemble the Cellie Coping Kit for Sickle Cell Disease and traveled to Baltimore, MD to help launch the kit at a national sickle cell disease conference.

Danielle also learned how to properly approach patients and their families and became more comfortable interacting with them as time went on. “Learning what goes into the psychology portion of care was both challenging and rewarding. I enjoyed the wide range of responsibilities, interacting with the patients and the many lessons I learned about coping and pediatric illness from the families themselves,” said Danielle.